276 SPANISH AMERICA. 



hanged. A proclamation, dated the 26th of 

 June, 1797, was issued by Sir Thomas 

 Picton, then Governor of Trinidad, and ad- 

 dressed to the Governors of the contiguous 

 Islands, in which, with reference to what 

 was then in agitation in the adjacent parts 

 of the Spanish American continent, and to 

 the instructions which he had received 

 from the Right Hon. Henry Dundas (after- 

 wards Viscount Melville), then Secretary of 

 State for Foreign Affairs, he says : With 

 regard to the hopes you entertain of raising 

 the spirits of those persons with whom you 

 are in correspondence, towards encourag- 

 ing the inhabitants to resist the oppressive 

 authority of their government, I have little 

 more to say, than that they may be certain, 

 that whenever they are in that disposition, 

 they may receive at your hands all the 

 succours to be expected from his Britannic 

 Majesty, be it with forces, or with arms 

 and ammunition, to any extent ; with the 



